| Mallotus floribundus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus: | Mallotus |
| Species: | M. floribundus |
| Binomial name | |
| Mallotus floribundus | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
Mallotus floribundus is a tree in the family Euphorbiaceae, in the Stylanthus section, [3] native to Southeast Asia, Wallaceae, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The species grows a small tree, up to 18m, occasionally 25m, tall. [4] It has a mostly straight trunk with a many branching bush crown. Its bark can occur as smooth to fissured, with lenticels. The leaves are (sometimes ovate) to broadly ovate to orbicular, with an irregular margin (sometimes slightly dentate to crenate. The staminate (male) flowers are white to yellowish, while the pistillate (female) flowers are pale green to whitish.
Features used to distinguish the species include: [4] [5] the shape of the leaf blade (see above), their length-width ratio (0.7-1.9), the shape of the margins, an acute to acuminate apex, and two or three conspicuously large hair tufts at the petiole insertion of the lower surface (except in the Solomon Islands and East Papua New Guinea), domatia (rarely hairy) are present higher along the midrib, leaves are often glaucouse, with occasionally sparse to densely gland-dotted and venation ending in the margin.
In Cambodia and Vietnam, the plant tends to grow as a shrub, some 2-10m tall. [6]
The specific density of the stem and of the wood is 0.62 g/cm3. [7]
The species is native to Southeast Asia, Wallacea, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. [2] [1] Countries and regions that it grows in are: Solomon Islands; Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Archipelago, mainland); Indonesia (Papua, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bali, Jawa, Sumatera); Philippines; Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia); Brunei Darussalam; Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; Laos; and Myanmar.
Mallotus floribundus is locally common in both primary and secondary forests, it grows mainly in open areas, such as river banks, alongside roads, in gaps and clearings, and in open fields. [4] It can handle a range of soil moisture, from dry to badly-drained, even swampy areas, with most soil types tolerated, from sand to loam to clay to limestone. It grows in altitudes up 500m (rarely up to 933m).
The tallest, most impressive forests on Waigeo of the Raja Ampat Islands, eastern Indonesia, contain the species as a co-dominant, along with Spathiostemon javensis , Hopea novoguineensis , Homalium foetidum , Pimelodendron amboinicum , and Vatica rassak , with Elatostema and Piper quite common in the understorey. [8] This forest grows on alluvial and residual sandstone and volcanic soils.
In Cambodia, the species favours flooded forests, while it is most common in secondary formations in Vietnam. [6]
The IUCN status Least Concern, given above, is because the tree has a large population very widely distributed and is, at the moment and in the foreseeable future, not threatened. [1]
In Cambodia the shrub is known as kabahs prèi rôniëm (Khmer). [6]
In Sumatera the wood is used to make small objects, while the tree is grown as an ornamental in Myanmar. [4] The leaves are used in an infusion that is drunk as a tea in Cambodia, where they also use the twigs of the plant for firewood. [6]
In Jawa the male flowers, described as "rather aromatic" are mixed with rice flour to make powders used in traditional medicine. [4] A decoction of the root is used in Peninsular Malaysia to treat fever, stomachache and cholera, and is given after child birth.
Extracts from the species have been shown to have a high antioxidant activity. [9]
The Swiss botanist Johann Müller (also known as Jean Müller) described this species in 1864. [10] Müller published under the name of Johannes Müller Argoviensis (botanical abbreviation = Müll.Arg.) to distinguish himself from other botanists of the time. The publication occurred in the journal Flora; oder, (allgemeine) botanische Zeitung published in Regensburg and Jena
Additional information can be found in the following:
Antidesma is a genus of tropical plant in the family Phyllanthaceae formally described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to tropical Africa, S + E + SE Asia, Australia, and various oceanic islands. The greatest diversity occurs in Southeast Asia.
Mallotus is a genus of the spurge family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1790. Two species are found in tropical Africa and Madagascar. All the other species are found in East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, eastern Australia, and certain islands of the western Pacific. The genus has about 150 species of dioecious trees or shrubs.
Claoxylon is a flowering plant genus in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, comprising dioecious subshrubs to small trees. It was first described as a genus in 1824. The genus is distributed in paleotropical areas: Madagascar through South and Southeast Asia, Malesia to Melanesia, Hawaiʻi, and Australia. Half of the species are in Malesia. According to a molecular phylogenetic study by Wurdack, Hoffmann & Chase (2005), Claoxylon is sister to Erythrococca, and together they form the top of a Hennigian comb-like phylogeny.
Homonoia is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described in 1790. These are rheophytes and usually found in groups at riverbanks in India, southern China, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea.
Spathiostemon is a genus of trees in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is native to the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Wallacea and Southeast Asia. The trees grow between 10 and 20m tall, often in secondary forest. The wood is sometimes used.
Mallotus pleiogynus is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is a tree that grows to 43 m (141 ft) tall and is native to New Guinea.
Blumeodendron is a genus of dioecious trees of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It is widespread across much of Southeast Asia and Papuasia.
Breynia is a genus in the flowering plant family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, Réunion, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia and Australia.
Campylospermum serratum is a plant in the family Ochnaceae. The specific epithet serratum is from the Latin meaning "with teeth", referring to the leaf margin. It is found in Tropical Asia, from Sulawesi, Indonesia to Hainan, Zhōngguó/China and over to southwester India. Gomphia serrata was a previous common name for the species. The plant is used for it wood and its sap is used in folk medicine and in the past for teeth-blackening.
Antidesma ghaesembilla is a species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family. It is native to an area from northern Australia to the Philippines, China, and west to India. The shrub or tree usually grows in moist soils in plant communities ranging from savannah to gallery forest to closed forest. It is associated with a number of species of fungus, insects and animals, including emus. Amongst the Mangarrayi and Yangman people of north Australia, the sweet ripe fruit of the tree are much appreciated and linked to the build-up season and to the koel. As well as food, the plant is used as a calendar-plant, for dyeing, in traditional medicine, in religious/magical practices, as fuel, and as an insecticide.
Mallotus repandus, known in Australia as the climbing mallotus, is a species of plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, mainland Southeast Asia, Malesia, New Guinea, Queensland, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
Occurring as a shrub or as a tree, Daphniphyllum majus is a species in the family Daphniphyllaceae. It is found in Mainland Southeast Asia and Yunnan in Zhōngguó/China. Uses of the plant include fuel and smoking-material.
Elaeocarpus thorelii is a tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae, endemic to Cambodia, and used for its wood.
Mallotus plicatus is a tree or shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family, in the Polyadenii section. It occurs in much of Mainland Southeast Asia. It is used for dyeing and in construction.
Spathiostemon javensis is a plant that can grow as a shrub or a tree in the tribe Acalypheae of the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the region from the Bismarck Archipelago to New Guinea, Wallacea and into Southeast Asia. It is often common in the understorey of forests. The wood is used in constructions.
Hopea novoguineensis is a rainforest tree species in the Dipterocarpaceae family. It is found in New Guinea and on Halmahera, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The tree produces good timber.
Pimelodendron amboinicum is a tree species in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is found from the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific, west to Sulawesi in Indonesia. The timber is used locally, though larger-scale illegal logging is apparent.
Pantadenia adenanthera is a shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is found in parts of Southeast Asia. The species is used for its wood and edible fruit.
Xanthophyllum lanceatum is a tree in the Polygalaceae family. It grows across Southeast Asia from Sumatera to Bangladesh. The leaves are used as a hops-substitute in beer making and the wood as fuel. Fish in the Mekong regularly eat the fruit, flowers and leaves.
Mallotus peltatus is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, native from India to Papuasia. It was first described by Eduard Ferdinand Geiseler in 1807 as Aleurites peltatus.
